The other day I received a letter from Holden saying my car was faulty and it needed to be recalled.

The manufacturer had discovered there was a faulty part that meant the brakes could fail when you least expect it.

This action of recall is common for cars. The manufacturer has high hopes that the car will perform well, but if there is a fault in the car it may not operate as it has been designed. Due to the fault, the car may become dangerous and endanger the life of those people in it.

There has been a recall notice sent out to the human race.

God had high hopes that the human race would live in harmony and love but a fault has developed and great danger awaits anybody who does not respond to the recall.

Here’s what God has said…

This is the problem

Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.

This is the recall…

Joe_2:13 Rend your hearts and not your garments and return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness; and He revokes His sentence of evil [when His conditions are met].

This is God’s response….

Isa_55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have love, pity, and mercy for him, and to our God, for He will multiply to him His abundant pardon.

Let’s be honest – before we get right with God, our lives are far from perfect.

If all your sins, if everything you ever did and were ashamed of were shouted from the housetops – how would you feel? What if nothing in your life was secret anymore? Would you stand clean and perfect before God?

Are there any evil thoughts in you?

Is there any hatred of others?, any telling of lies? Any coveting what others own? Any bitterness or unforgiveness? Is there any lust for someone not your wife or husband?

Where would we all stand if the books were opened right up?

It’s time to get right with God.

There has been a recall. There’s a fault with the product of God’s creation – there’s potentially a life threatening outcome if the fault is not rectified. The end result, if not addressed is death.

Will you respond to the recall?

If you go around ignoring it, it may just come to an end when you least expect it.

Now is the time to act and act fast, don’t put it off a minute longer.

Here’s how you respond. Say this prayer…..

My Lord Jesus, I come to you, please forgive all my sins. I believe that you died for me, I believe that you rose again from the dead. I choose to walk with you for the rest of my life. I ask you right now to come into my heart and lead me in this life. Amen.

Your next step is to go to to a bible believing church. If you reply to me I will send you literature that will help you. God bless you richly.

It would be totally amazing if any person died on a cross willingly as a substitute for another person; but it is infinitely more amazing when God became a man and died this cruel death on the cross for people.

Why did He do it?

Because He loved you. God loves you so much. He loved you before you ever heard about His love, He loved you before you ever had a chance to respond to that love.

Jesus met an elderly woman one day – she was burying her adult son. Jesus had great compassion on her and raised her son from the dead. Can you imagine how that changed her life? That’s a demonstration of love!!

Jesus met a blind man by the roadside one day; He cured him of blindness on the spot. That’s an act of love!! I have seen blind eyes come open in church in Australia.

Jesus gave 10 lepers a complete healing one day restoring their diseased flesh with brand new flesh. That’s an act of love!! We have seen Jesus heal people of cancer in this church.

In the bible Jesus showed huge compassion to a woman who had been caught in the very act of adultery, a crime punishable by death in those days. He said to her I do not condemn you, go and sin no more. That’s an act of Love!!

No matter what you have done wrong, known or unknown, Jesus can forgive your sins and wash you clean. In this church there are many people who have a past that they are ashamed of, but now they walk free with their heads held high. How is this possible?

Through Jesus love! He loved you and me so much that he refused to leave us without hope, although that’s what we deserved. He instead took our place in receiving the punishment for each and every sin that all men have committed.

He was punished for your sin. He said these very important words.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Joh 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.

Joh 3:18 He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.

It’s time to receive God’s love today. It’s time for you to receive the pardon he offers you.

Is your heart broken, He can heal the broken hearted.

Are you sick and facing challenging illness, He can heal you.

Are you depressed and hating yourself, Jesus can restore you and bring life to you.

Are you angry and bitter toward others? He can change your heart and pour new love into you. He is the answer. Jesus is the answer for the world today.

After all that He has done for you. It’s now your turn to respond. He is reaching out to you in love. Will you respond? If someone offered you a thousand dollars wouldn’t you respond? If someone offered to take a bullet for you wouldn’t you respond? If someone said to you I forgive you and I love you, wouldn’t you respond?

So why wouldn’t you respond when God himself says he loves you and died for you?

Here’s how you can respond.

Just say yes, yes Jesus, Pray this simple prayer and choose to have faith in Jesus, He died for you and right now He’s ready to step into your life.

Pray this prayer with me…….

My Lord Jesus, I come to you, please forgive all my sins. I believe that you died for me, I believe that you rose again from the dead. I choose to walk with you for the rest of my life. I ask you right now to come into my heart and lead me in this life. Amen.

Your next step is to go to to a bible believing church. If you reply to me I will send you literature that will help you. God bless you richly.

Fresh Air is the proclaimed time for seeking God with prayer and fasting right across the Christian Outreach Centre Movement in Australia and Oceania. It’s a time when we set ourselves apart to meet with God. To seek Him out and to humble ourselves. Part of this experience is repentance.

That comes through clearly from

2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Turning from our wicked ways is repentance.

It’s not an old fashioned word, it’s not a “revival only” word, it’s not a word for the fanatics, it’s a word from the bible that simply means change your mind. Here are the two main Greek words that are translated as repentance in the new testament:

1. metanoeō (met-an-o-eh’-o)

From G3326 and G3539; to think differently or afterwards, that is, reconsider (morally to feel compunction): – repent.

2. metanoia. met-an’-oy-ah

From G3340; (subjectively) compunction (for guilt, including reformation); by implication reversal (of [another’s] decision): – repentance.
When we spend time seeking God, we are opening up our lives, our hearts, our minds to God. We are asking , “What do I need to change God?” When His people in the Old Testament went astray, as they did so often, He would call them back through His prophets. Return to me says the Lord. As normal human beings living in this fallen world it is so easy to find ourselves gradually changing to be like the world. Inching so surely and so gradually more and more to worldly behaviours and thinking. For many Christians in our nation, there is little prayer in their lives, little reading of God’s word, their giving is what’s convenient, some even feel it unnecessary to attend church regularly; and fasting…. what’s that? All around us are millions of people who are on a highway to hell. Do we care? Are we heartbroken for the lost – even our own family members who are not saved yet? Do we really believe in a literal hell that every person who has not been born again will go to?

Take a look around – Australia is a very secular nation. so few are born again and many of those who are, are casual about winning the lost. The church has not just become irrelevant but is seen as part of the problem by the main stream media. OK so what do we do about it? – 2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. I care about Australia – I want to see God rescue as any as possible from sin and unbelief. So this month I’m fasting and praying AND repenting.

The biggest obstacle to repentance is the attitude – I’m OK its everyone else that needs to change. This is called self righteousness. The Pharisees were really good at this one.

In Luk 3:8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. – Here Jesus rebukes the Pharisees who believed that they were “OK” because they had Abraham as their father. Jesus discounted that by declaring, that is nothing… God can raise up sons of Abraham from these stones! A little bit later in Luke we see

Luk 18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
Luk 18:10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
Luk 18:13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (ESV)

Self righteousness is an obstacle for repentance. The Pharisee did not see any need to change. The tax collector saw a big need to change. The Pharisee is telling God how good he is, the Tax Collector is saying how bad he is. The Pharisee compared himself to others, but the Tax Collector compared himself with God.

When ever we say to ourselves, I’m OK; I’m not as bad as those people. Or we say I’m trying hard, I do this and that for God, we are blinded by self righteousness, we can’t repent and we don’t even realise we are poor, miserable, blind and naked. (Rev 3:17) If we say to ourselves I’ve been saved for so many years and I have been to so many prayer meetings and I have fasted for so many times and fail to simply ask the Holy Spirit, “What needs to change in my heart today, Holy Spirit?” Then we are missing the incredible opportunity to open up our lives and our churches and our community for greatness and God’s plan. Will you join us in seeking God, humbling ourselves, and repenting, turning away from attitudes, ideas, behaviours that the Holy Spirit shows us need to change?

2Ch 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Christian Outreach Centre, one of Australia’s largest Christian movements, has elected a new Chairman for its Oceania region covering 24 nations with a combined population of some 37.7 million people.

He is Ps Ross Abraham, former Queensland State Chairman for COC, and Lead Pastor for the Elevation multi-campus churches in Gold Coast, Tweed Heads and Townsville.

Ross and his wife Kathy both come originally from Townsville, moving to Brisbane in 1986. He joined COC’s Brisbane staff in 1988 as Youth Pastor.

Ross replaces Ps David McDonald, who had held the position of Australian National Chairman for 13 years.

COC’s Oceania region, with some 55,000 members, has 700 churches, four major schools, a State-accredited tertiary college, several child care centres and Bible and ministry schools and Global Care, a disaster relief agency with 4000 registered volunteers.

He said: “I take my new role very seriously indeed, and will dedicate my time and energy not just to building COC numerically and geographically, but even more importantly to develop stronger relationships between our churches and their local communities.

“It seems all we hear about in the news is conflict and trouble – the role of the church should be to bring harmony, and to play a positive role promoting peace and unity in our nations, cities and towns.

“Oceania is a big region, and I do not underestimate the challenges in terms of different cultures and traditions. But for me, it is more about what we are for, than what we are against.

“I believe our churches should be champions for righteousness across our great region, and I have set up core unifying values emphasising faith with stewardship, growing interpersonal relationships, winning souls, influencing communities and helping individuals to learn and be equipped for life.”

Christian Outreach Centre and its disaster recovery arm, Global Care, have been honoured publicly by the Governor-General, Prime Minister, Federal Opposition Leader and several State premiers:

I am pleased to send my congratulations to Christian Outreach Centre … As you champion Christian values, your devotion inspires goodwill and provides a source of support to people in times of stress and difficulty. We saw this as your members gave assistance during the Queensland floods as Global Care volunteers … your engagement with the wider community is strengthened through the care and generosity of your congregations. You continue to champion fine values and educate our youth to be respected citizens – Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia

Australia’s long Christian heritage stems from our earliest years as a nation … the dedicated charitable work of Christian Outreach Centre is an excellent example of this great Christian contribution to Australian society …This year I particularly commend the volunteers of Global Care, your disaster recovery arm … the Global Care motto “mates helping mates” is a marvellous illustration of the connection between Christian charity and the Australian way. – The Hon Julia Gillard MP, Prime Minister of Australia

I am pleased to send my congratulations to Christian Outreach Centre … you have continued your mission to promote good values and engage with all members of our community. I also congratulate you for the work of Global Care …from the aftermath of the floods in Queensland to the Victorian bushfires, Global Care volunteers have been there to provide a helping hand to people and communities – The Hon Tony Abbott MHR, Leader of the Opposition

In a world of constant change, it is reassuring to know that faith communities like Christian Outreach Centre are growing strong … your global network of churches administer an antidote for the mounting stresses and complexities of this modern age … I am proud that COC and your disaster relief arm Global Care started in Queensland, but even more proud that your ministry and charitable works now extend way beyond our State lines – The Hon Campbell Newman MP, Premier of Queensland.